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kpete
kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
July 5, 2015
- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
"In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.”
- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.”
- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)
“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”
- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758)
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people build a wall of separation between Church & State."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."
- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
"Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."
- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)
"There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."
- George Washington, address to Congress (1790)
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
Agree with their sentiments or not, you simply cannot say that the founders thought they were explicitly founding a Christian nation.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/qotd-bunch-of-founders.html
The Founders Re: Religion - Speak For Themselves:
“If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
"In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.”
- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.”
- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)
“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”
- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758)
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people build a wall of separation between Church & State."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."
- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
"Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."
- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)
"There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."
- George Washington, address to Congress (1790)
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
Agree with their sentiments or not, you simply cannot say that the founders thought they were explicitly founding a Christian nation.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/qotd-bunch-of-founders.html
July 5, 2015
President Obama Calls The Grateful Dead an "Iconic American Band" in Touching Tribute
President Obama Calls The Grateful Dead an "Iconic American Band" in Touching Tribute
On the Fourth of July, the group turned 50 and played their penultimate concert.
America celebrated its 239th birthday yesterday. In Chicago, another American institution reached a milestone, as the Grateful Dead turned 50 and played their penultimate show as a band. The occasion brought out many tributes. A record number of people filed into Soldier Field. New York's Empire State Building rocked Dead colors, something that has "never been done before for a rock band of this magnitude." And celebrities showed up in droves, including Katy Perry, John Mayer, Woody Harrelson, Chloe Sevigny, Liz Phair and Al Franken.
Even President Obama took note of the occasion. The Grateful Dead played a show in support of the president's first campaign in 2008, and since they were bringing their career to a close in his hometown, it was only fitting that he offered the group praise and well-wishes. "Here's to fifty years of the Grateful Dead, an iconic American band that embodies the creativity, passion, and ability to bring people together that makes American music so great," the President wrote. "Enjoy this weekend's celebration of your fans and legacy. And as (frontman) Jerry (Garcia) would say, 'Let there be songs to fill the air.' "
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/president-obama-calls-grateful-dead-806772?utm_source=twitter
July 5, 2015
“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.”
TA-NEHISI COATES JUL 4, 2015
.............
There is nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers or even in this moment. The destroyers are merely men enforcing the whims of our country, correctly interpreting its heritage and legacy. This legacy aspires to the shackling of black bodies. It is hard to face this. But all our phrasing— race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy—serves to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. You must never look away from this. You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body. And should one live in such a body? What should be our aim beyond meager survival of constant, generational, ongoing battery and assault? I have asked this question all my life. I have sought the answer through my reading and writings, through the music of my youth, through arguments with your grandfather, with your mother. I have searched for answers in nationalist myth, in classrooms, out on the streets, and on other continents. The question is unanswerable, which is not to say futile. The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, of confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from ghosts and myths.
So powerful, more:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/tanehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me/397619/
Letter to My Son "In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.”
Letter to My Son“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.”
TA-NEHISI COATES JUL 4, 2015
.............
There is nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers or even in this moment. The destroyers are merely men enforcing the whims of our country, correctly interpreting its heritage and legacy. This legacy aspires to the shackling of black bodies. It is hard to face this. But all our phrasing— race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy—serves to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. You must never look away from this. You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body. And should one live in such a body? What should be our aim beyond meager survival of constant, generational, ongoing battery and assault? I have asked this question all my life. I have sought the answer through my reading and writings, through the music of my youth, through arguments with your grandfather, with your mother. I have searched for answers in nationalist myth, in classrooms, out on the streets, and on other continents. The question is unanswerable, which is not to say futile. The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, of confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from ghosts and myths.
So powerful, more:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/tanehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me/397619/
July 5, 2015
?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9
Donald trump this was the day of my high school graduation day 06-07-2015. My father David Gonzalez was not there to see me walk and receive my diploma. That day he was working like every other day of the week. He works in agricultural farming,I am a Latina my parents are Latinos working for all american dream.i had to go to him so he can see all his hard work paying off. Giving him my proof of what he has taught me. Your words don't Have nothing against his sweat.#💪 #?nevergiveup #?latinosunidos
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=664408283659185&set=o.158910117511914&type=1&theater
Mr. Trump: "Your words have nothing against his (my father's) sweat"
?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9
Donald trump this was the day of my high school graduation day 06-07-2015. My father David Gonzalez was not there to see me walk and receive my diploma. That day he was working like every other day of the week. He works in agricultural farming,I am a Latina my parents are Latinos working for all american dream.i had to go to him so he can see all his hard work paying off. Giving him my proof of what he has taught me. Your words don't Have nothing against his sweat.#💪 #?nevergiveup #?latinosunidos
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=664408283659185&set=o.158910117511914&type=1&theater
July 5, 2015
July 3, 2014
by Bill Moyers and Bernard Weisberger
................
Recognize that for all of us, these, too, are the times that try our souls. Be peacefully but persistently aggressive. Demand of your representatives at national, state and local levels: either they deliver their votes to break the Money Power or they don’t get yours. Nothing less will get their attention. This weekend and in the coming elections they will be showing up in person; find out when they will be where you live and turn up to challenge them.
Don’t wait for some far-off organization to send you a petition. Get off the couch and picket their home offices. If you are ignored, or they protest that your defection will lead to their defeat, remind them of the advice of General Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox of Revolutionary fame: “We fight, get beat, rise and fight again.” That’s why the Constitution provides for frequent elections, new chances to turn opinion in your favor. And that’s why it ensures your right to be as demonstrative as it takes to be heard. Don’t leave it to others. Be as immovable on your side as the tea party is on theirs and don’t shrink when the corporate media and partisans on the cable channels and talk radio equate you with them as “extremists” and sing their love songs to “centrism.”
Write to the editors of your newspapers or what is left of them, go see them, call on the heads of the networks and tell them to fire their carnival barkers for the one tenth of one percent who have bought our government, or at the very least open their pages and their mikes and cameras to genuine debate with bona fide reformers and radicals of many stripes.
...................
Take direct action: it’s your right. Boycott restaurants that won’t pay minimum wages to their staffs the way the black citizens of Montgomery boycotted their segregated buses and won. Eat at home and put the money you save into the campaigns of candidates who take no corporate money and will vote for public financing of elections. Don’t wait for new parties to form, for organizations to draft platforms. Deny your dollars to food industry conglomerates that push sweet and fattening drinks on your kids. Make the Almighty Dollar your weapon instead of theirs.
..............
MORE:
http://billmoyers.com/2014/07/03/celebrate-the-revolution-and-keep-it-going/
BILL MOYERS: Celebrate the Revolution — And Keep It Going
Celebrate the Revolution — And Keep It GoingJuly 3, 2014
by Bill Moyers and Bernard Weisberger
We haven’t come this far by crawling on our knees.
Stand up – and reclaim the patriot’s dream............
................
Recognize that for all of us, these, too, are the times that try our souls. Be peacefully but persistently aggressive. Demand of your representatives at national, state and local levels: either they deliver their votes to break the Money Power or they don’t get yours. Nothing less will get their attention. This weekend and in the coming elections they will be showing up in person; find out when they will be where you live and turn up to challenge them.
Don’t wait for some far-off organization to send you a petition. Get off the couch and picket their home offices. If you are ignored, or they protest that your defection will lead to their defeat, remind them of the advice of General Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox of Revolutionary fame: “We fight, get beat, rise and fight again.” That’s why the Constitution provides for frequent elections, new chances to turn opinion in your favor. And that’s why it ensures your right to be as demonstrative as it takes to be heard. Don’t leave it to others. Be as immovable on your side as the tea party is on theirs and don’t shrink when the corporate media and partisans on the cable channels and talk radio equate you with them as “extremists” and sing their love songs to “centrism.”
Write to the editors of your newspapers or what is left of them, go see them, call on the heads of the networks and tell them to fire their carnival barkers for the one tenth of one percent who have bought our government, or at the very least open their pages and their mikes and cameras to genuine debate with bona fide reformers and radicals of many stripes.
...................
Take direct action: it’s your right. Boycott restaurants that won’t pay minimum wages to their staffs the way the black citizens of Montgomery boycotted their segregated buses and won. Eat at home and put the money you save into the campaigns of candidates who take no corporate money and will vote for public financing of elections. Don’t wait for new parties to form, for organizations to draft platforms. Deny your dollars to food industry conglomerates that push sweet and fattening drinks on your kids. Make the Almighty Dollar your weapon instead of theirs.
..............
MORE:
http://billmoyers.com/2014/07/03/celebrate-the-revolution-and-keep-it-going/
July 5, 2015
my doggie doesn't mind them at all, but her cousin doggie - just came out from under the bed.....
post-4th
my doggie doesn't mind them at all, but her cousin doggie - just came out from under the bed.....
July 5, 2015
nice pic, mr. president
President Obama ?@POTUS 16h16 hours ago
It doesn't get much better than celebrating America with the people you love. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/617542692952764417
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